DRAGON 1
Publisher
Mike Cook
Editor-in-Chief
Kim Mohan
Editorial staff
Patrick Lucien Price
Roger Moore
Art director and graphics
Roger Raupp
Subscriptions
Georgia Moore
Advertising
Mary Parkinson
Contributing editors
Ed Greenwood
Katharine Kerr
This issues contributing artists
Denis Beauvais
Jeff Busch
Bob Walters
Jim Roslof
Roger Raupp
Timothy Truman
Marvel Bullpen
David Trampier
Richard Tomasic
Joseph Pillsbury
Larry Elmore

2 DECEMBER 1985
SPECIAL ATTRACTION
41
SUDDEN DAWN — William Tracy
Our first magazine module for the MARVEL SUPER HEROES game
OTHER FEATURES
8
The rogues of role-playing: Special section on thieves
9
The well-rounded thief John C. Bunnell
Not every wall-climber does it for the same reasons
Race is ahead of class John C. Bunnell
The varying outlooks of demi-human thieves
Was it worth the risk?  Bruce Barber
Heres what you get for picking a pocket
20 Oriental opens new vistas  David Cook
An overview of the latest AD&D® game book
22 Three challenges in one  Michael Dobson
New module intermixes wargaming and role-playing
24 Meeting of the minds  Peter Zelinski
Expanded table for psionic encounters
28 Leomunds Tiny Hut  Lenard Lakofka
How weapon specialization affects game balance
33 The ecology of the ochre jelly  Ed Greenwood
An extra-large amoeba with an appetite to match
38 Assessing, not guessing  Lionel D. Smith
How PCs can tell what something is worth
58 Spys advice  Merle M. Rasmussen
Answers and suggestions for the TOP SECRET® game
DEPARTMENTS

3
Letters
64
TSR Previews 89
Wormy
4 World Gamers Guide
69
The ARES Section 93 Dragonmirth
6 The forum
88
Convention calendar
94
Snarfquest
62 TSR Profiles
11
16
COVER
Whenever Denis Beauvais sends us a new cover painting, he describes it as The best
thing Ive ever done  and so far, hes been right every time. His latest work, Spin-
ning Tales, depicts a wizard and his distinctive way of telling a story about a dragon,
a princess, and a knight. You might know how the story comes out before he finishes it
 but when you can see it as well as hear it, you cant help hoping that it never ends.
Module mistakes
Dear Dragon,
Robert Schroecks City Beyond the Gate
(issue #100) was inventive, original, and probably
the best example of consecutive blunders I have
seen in your magazine for a long time. Frankly,
Mr. Schroeck would have been well advised to set
his module in a country which he knows some-

thing about. His idea of London had more in
common with a cross between Charles Dickens
and Manhattan Island than the city I know.
Firstly, his ideas of British currency are curi-
ously dated and even in the long gone days when
we did use shillings and pence, there were twenty
shillings to the pound and twelve pence to the
shilling.
His next mistake was to do with the British
police (rarely known as bobbies today and never
known as woolies). These policemen (known
as cops, fuzz, or the Bill), unlike their U.S.
counterparts, do not carry firearms on duty. In
addition, there are no SWAT teams in this coun-
try (at least not under that name) nor the num-
bers of urchins which seem to have been liberally
sprinkled across one of the most upperclass areas
of London. That sort of thing went out with
Oliver Twist.
His minor slipups included the price of a tube
ticket (40p, or about 55 cents) and the fact that I
have never yet seen either a horse-driven beer
wagon or hackney cab outside a museum.
My advice to DMs who wish to play London as
it should be played is to remove all firearms from
both the security forces and criminals. Secondly,
all traces of Victorian England should be re-
moved. London is, after all, a 20th-century
capital city. Thirdly, the currency should be
corrected. There are 100 pence to the pound, and

shillings dont exist.
An unarmed police force should not be a
problem for a good DM. Just remember that they
are not as vulnerable as they appear and most
intelligent people do not cross them. They can
call on virtually unlimited (restrained) force.
Player characters who indulge in mayhem should
be made to regret it!
With the exception of these minor gripes, it
was a very good scenario and I congratulate Mr.
Schroeck for his good work.
Andrew Price
West Sussex, England
After we received this letter, we sent a copy to
Robert Schroeck and asked him for a response;
following are the pertinent excerpts from his letter
back to us. Before we give him the floor, however,
we have to take some of the credit for one of
the shortcomings that Andrew pointed out. We
should have double-checked the statements about
the monetary system, but we didnt. As for the
other blunders, Robert does a good job of
explaining why they exist. Also, its been pointed
out to us that we neglected to designate the offices
on the maps of the museum. In general, assume
that any small, unidentified enclosures (such as
the row of rectangles on the right-hand edge of
the second floor) are offices. And now, heres
Robert.  KM
Roberts response

. . . Ive been waiting for a British player to
trip me up. Actually, I was aware of some of the
blunders in the module; some were inten-
tional, some not.
I must admit that my view of London has been
influenced by both Charles Dickens and my
proximity to New York City. But the primary
flavor to be found in my London comes from a
pair of extraordinary books, The Borribles and
The Borribles Go For Broke, by Michael de
Larrabeiti (published in paperback by Ace
Books). They present the adventures of a band of
mutated children with elflike characteristics in
and about London. The city, especially the neigh-
borhoods of Wandsworth and Battersea, is pre-
sented in a dark, foreboding manner throughout,
with plenty of decay and despairing tomes, aban-
doned buildings, and evil adults. It is very Dick-
ensian in that sense. The other Dickensian touch,
the street urchins, also comes from these books.
The urchins were, in the original version of the
module, members of the various tribes of Borri-
bles, as were the urchin NPCs (who were three of
the main characters from the books); because I
was unable to secure permission from Ace Books
to use de Larrabeitis material, I adapted the
Borribles into street urchins, and changed the
names of the NPCs, in order to use them as a
band of potential allies for the PCs. The term
woolie for the police also comes from the

novels  I had assumed it was a common term.
I dispute Mr. Prices contention that unarmed
First impressions
can be wrong
I wont try to write a full review of The
Dungeon Master in this small amount of
space. Suffice it to say that I got a bad first
impression from the cover blurbs, and I am
happy to report that the book was much
more interesting than I expected it to be.
My first impression was wrong.
Of course, the main reason I read it was
to see what the author, William Dear, had
to say about the DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS® game. As it turned out, the
game had nothing to do with why Dallas
Egbert disappeared, but Mr. Dear had no
way of knowing that before Dallas was
found. So he educated himself about the
game and persuaded a couple of students
from Michigan State University to play an
adventure with him.
Mr. Dear devoted a 23-page chapter to
his recounting of the only time he played.
For his sake and the sake of everyone who
plays the game right, I wish he had received
a better first impression of the game.
The companion of his first-level player
character was a second-level fighter/thief
with scores of 18 in everything but wisdom

and charisma. When was the last time you
rolled four 18s?
The two player characters were at odds
with each other (and thats putting it
mildly) more often than not. Tor (Dears
character) had his pocket picked by Dan
(the other character). The words coopera-
tion and alignment dont appear any-
where in the chapter. Ultimately, the only
way Tor could get Dan to demonstrate any
compassion or teamwork was to cast a
charm person spell on him. But within a
few minutes of game time, the spell wore
off, and Dan was his treacherous old self
again.
Its bad enough that the Dungeon Master
and the experienced player screwed up
the rules, but whats worse is that they
corrupted the intent of the game. William
Dear came away from his first D&D® game
session with a very distorted sense of how
player characters, and the people playing
them, operate. Coupled with the negative
impressions he had received about the game
before he played, this served to reinforce
Dears estimation of the game as something
sinister and potentially dangerous.
My only criticism of the way Mr. Dear
conducted his investigation is that he didnt
give himself an opportunity to play the

game again with different people. If he had,
I think he would have found that his first
impression, too, was wrong.
DRAGON 3
police officers could stand up to a well-armed
party; even at the generously high levels I
granted to individual officers, they would not be
much of an obstacle to a party that lacked the
ingrained British respect of the police. I armed
some of them to provide more of a challenge, and
besides, if youre going to be playing in the
modern world, youve got to use guns some-
where, if only for shock effect. SWAT teams are
called that simply because I dont know what the
British equivalent is called.
My sources never mentioned that the shilling
had disappeared with the decimalization of Brit-
ish currency. I was aware of the old ratios of
pound:shilling:pence, and I assumed that the
shilling had become the equivalent of the Ameri-
can dime. The price of an Underground ticket
was based on my recollection of the price of a
Paris Metro ticket (about 20-25 cents, as of my
last visit).
I regret any severe distortion of London. I
could have avoided this by setting the module in,
say, New York, but that would have been too easy
for my players and the readers; in choosing a
locale unfamiliar to them, I had to choose one
equally unfamiliar to me.

Before I close, I have my own correction to
add. On the map of the Island House, the room
labeled E is not keyed in the text. It is the
jakes, an indoor outhouse flushed by water from
the same spring that cools the coldbox.
Robert M. Schroeck
Jersey City, N.J.
The World Gamers Guide
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The World Gamers Guide is intended

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Australia 3216
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10 Lindfield Avenue
Edwardstown 5039
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Australia
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Erebor RPG Association
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204 University Dr.
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Muntinlupa, Metro Manila

Philippines
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DRAGON® Magazine (ISSN 0279-6848) is published monthly by TSR, Inc. The mailing address for all material except subscription orders is DRAGON Magazine, P.O. Box 110, Lake
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USPS 318-790. ISSN 0279-6848.
4 DECEMBER 1985
DRAGON 5
Charging may not be cheap, but it is certainly I believe that this a good option to include in a
a better alternative than trying to accomplish the
game, since it is always easier to replenish an
involved rituals for the creation of a magical item
from scratch. Besides, who has time to wait for a
item already in ones possession than to make one
from scratch. In a normal game, if I may con-
lightning bolt to strike an oak tree and splinter
sider the games I participate in normal, one
the beginnings of a wand of lightning? Or who is
has little chance to make an item, but has many
willing to give, and then take back, an incomplete

opportunities to capture, take, or find magical
rod of rulership from a succubus? My characters
items already working. Doesnt it make more
arent. They have all they can handle trying to
sense to spend ones time researching to find the
run their petty governments, keep food on the
energy recharging words and learning a recharg-
table, protect themselves, and still have time for
ing spell, than to waste ones life creating one
adventuring into what little unknown remains.
magical device?
Peter Johnsons article, Charging isnt
cheap, does give some excellent and detailed
material concerning the ritual and procedure for
the creation of magical items, taking up where
the DMG left off. But it does not entirely address
the true subject of the article, namely the charg-
ing and recharging of magical items.
Richard W. Emerich
New Canaan, Ct.
****
Recharging of some magical items is, by defini-
tion, straightforward
I cite the staff of the magi
and the rod of absorption as examples. The
DMG lists the method of recharging these valu-
able items. But for items of less renown, such as
the wand of secret door and trap detection and
the staff of command, what does one do to re-
charge these items?

I greatly enjoyed the new Best of the
DRAGON (Vol. IV) Magazine, and I certainly
hope to see the fifth volume appear in the future.
The article Two-fisted fighting by Roger E.
Moore answered many of my questions for use of
two weapons (that is, if you have two arms);
however, there is one usable secondary weapon
missing.
I suggest a simple means of handling this
problem. First, whenever a magical item is
manufactured, the creator instills in it a com-
mand that allows magical energy to flow into it.
Then, whenever it becomes necessary for the user
to recharge the device, he can cast a special spell
over it that transfers a regulated amount of
magical energy into the item. The spell to which I
refer would have to be added to the lists of clerical
and magic-user spells: call it recharge an item.
Since it does not have the power of an enchant an
item spell, but is related to it, it would be a 5th-
level magic-user or clerical spell.
The user of the device would construct a pro-
tective circle, stand within it, and cast the spell
over the item. Just as with any other spell, a
small opening to the Positive Material Plane
opens, but instead of the energy continuing
through to the Negative Material Plane, guided
by the spell casters energy and mind, it is locked
into the magical device. Optionally, a DM may
allow more than one unit of energy to be stored

in the device, depending on the level of the spell
caster. Say that one charge may be stored at
9th level, and an additional charge per three or
four levels above that.
This weapon, commonly known as the sword-
breaker, was commonly used in the 16th century.
The sword-breaker, consisting of a deeply
notched blade about 15 inches in length, was
intended to catch and break the sword of an
antagonist. It can also be used as a dagger (at
perhaps -1 to hit). The opponent must first
make an attack with his sword (any thrusting or
slicing weapon), and must miss at the attempt.
This gives the sword-breaker wielder a chance to
grapple and perhaps break the antagonists
weapon, which is done by using the to hit
table. A successful roll will cause the weapon in
question to roll on Table 2 of John R. Shaws
These are the breaks article [also in the Best of
DRAGON Magazine #4  Editor]. If this chart
is not available, the DM may decide to have the
weapon save vs. crushing blow or be rendered
useless, or to make up his own damaged-weapons
table.
Thus, a solution to the problem of creating a
new item from scratch and the ambiguous refer-
ence to the recharging of magical devices is
found. Although recharging may seem quite easy,
and therefore unattractive to DMs who like to
make their players work for their magic, recharg-

ing is only slightly less difficult in actuality.
Unless the magical item was created by the user,
one must discover the secret word that will acti-
vate the energy absorbing option, learn a high-
level spell, create a magical circle of protection,
and then properly cast the spell. To further com-
plicate the result, one might include a base failure
factor in the spell recharge an item, so that the
spell caster will not be assured of charging the
item every time.
Talking about new weapons, have you ever
heard of a weapon called a pilum? A kind of pike
or javelin, about 5 to 6 feet in length, the pilum
was sometimes used at close quarters as an offen-
sive weapon or to parry blows. More often,
however it was thrown at the enemy to affix itself
in a shield, at which time the thrower or an ally
would rush up and seize the shaft of the pilum
with his secondary hand, in order to draw the
shield down. He would then follow up the attack
with a weapon in the free hand (usually the long
sword). There are several steps to deal with the
pilum in AD&D terms. First, this weapon must
penetrate the opponents shield, which is done by
throwing it like a javelin. Give large shields an
armor class of 8 and normal shields an AC of 7
(add 2 to the armor class for metal shields, and
also add 1 for every plus of shield). If a hit is
scored, someone must run up and grab the pilum
within 3 rounds or it will be pulled out by the

bearer of the shield. In order to grasp the pilums
shaft, a to hit roll must be made vs. AC 5,
which will cause the shield-bearer to add 2 to his
AC and be held in place, able only to attack to
6 D
ECEMBER 1985
the front of his person (this is step 2). However,
after the first round of such and every round
thereafter, the shield-bearer must make a saving
throw vs. paralyzation or be held for yet another
round. This roll is bonused with the victims
strength ability score added to it, while the pilum-
holders strength is subtracted from it. A success-
ful roll will break the shaft of the pilum, freeing
the one being held. During that round, that
person can then attack whoever held the pilum at
+2 to hit, gaining automatic initiative. The
pilum is especially useful for breaking up tight
shield formations which elude missile attacks, or
using it to hold the line if in need for more time.
Mark Deseck
Brighton, Mich.
****
Bravo! Paul Sutties answer to alignment
problem in issue #101 of DRAGON Magazine
was a good, innovative idea which advances the
cause of role-playing in my humble opinion. But
I still prefer the alignment system outlined in the
Players Handbook for its simplicity. It is neces-
sary for DMs controlling intelligent swords and

monsters. I propose that the two be unofficially
integrated herein.
For one thing, no one, not even a paladin, has
to be a pure alignment. Everything can have
neutral tendencies. To illustrate this, look at page
119 of the PH. A paladin whose alignment is
graphed between the boldfaced words Lawful
Good and Neutral is no less a paladin than
one who is graphed directly on top of the word
Saintly.
Alignment does not have to be absolute. It can
be perceived as Paul mentioned, so an English
paladin can fight a French paladin, if both feel it
will benefit their ideas of law and good. If they
both serve the same god, it is highly unlikely that
they would choose to fight each other; however,
each could strike at the troops of the other in
good conscience, provided each feels it will do
some good. The actions of good people should
bring about some form of good, while those of the
lawful should help to establish order.
No one need be killed for violating his align-
ment in a few minor forms. Even a serious
breach, when committed unknowingly, should be
seen with mercy by the DM. For example, a
paladin (they are always picked on when people
attempt to alter alignment) sees a camel-like beast
with wings and the head of primate set the floor
under his feet aflame. Naturally, he attacks.
Although he should have used his powers of

detecting evil first, he should not lose his pala-
dinhood for this. At the extreme, he may lose his
use of laying on hands and clerical spells until
he atones for his sin.
A persons duty to important causes, religion,
and ruler should heavily influence that persons
decision-making. Alignment is there for use when
necessary, but it will not prevent political, reli-
gious, or personal struggles. A little is necessary,
but that should always be so, according to this
DM.
William Bond Jr.
Omaha, Neb.
***
*
If the AD&D game dies, it will be of terminal
over-sophistication. Those who make their living
(or merely an extra buck every now and then)
writing about the game have seen fit to add ever
more Byzantine complexities (new PC races, new
PC and NPC classes, etc.) to a rules system
already rich in detail. Also, deep and serious
(Turn to page 25)
8 DECEMBER 1985
The well-rounded thief
Not everyone steals for the same reasons
by John C. Bunnell
You see two figures wearing leather armor, says the Dungeon
Master. Aha! shouts a player character. Thieves  get them!

Later, another player character is around the corner scouting and
passes a note to the DM. When the rest of the party arrives, they
find a heap of gold and a complacent-looking halfling. Okay, Frow-
dough, says the party leader, wheres the big gem? Sure enough,
when Frowdough is turned upside down and shaken, a diamond
drops out of his boot.
Thieves are probably the most misunderstood and misplayed
character type in all AD&D® game play. Most of the thieves Ive
played with and refereed over the years remind me all too much of
the two examples just noted. Even good AD&D game players, given
a thief character, fall readily into the stereotypical pattern of the
conniving gem-stealer and backstabber who avoids fights and melts
into the background at the first hint of danger. The fact that the
AD&D game rules tend to support and amplify the evil aspects of
thiefdom doesnt help. Were told that thieves tend to congregate in
powerful guilds, skulk continually and suspiciously in the shadows,
and specialize in deadly attacks from behind. All this makes for
thieves with highly unsavory reputations.
Its easy to fall into the stereotyped mold; not only is it implied by
the content of the rules, it makes for a profitable character, too. This
economic advantage, however, is outweighed by the fact that such
thieves make for predictable and untrustworthy adventuring part-
ners. Parties of good-aligned characters gradually become tired of
watching the thief appropriate all the valuable gems and rings, and
begin devising excuses to leave thieves behind or maneuvering
thieves into dangerous or fatal dungeon encounters. Sometimes,
players of thief characters feel that the rest of the group is out to get
them, and will either start new characters in other classes or leave
the group entirely.
The key to avoiding the preceding situation and to producing

viable thieves lies in deciding why they have adopted their chosen
profession. Strictly speaking, not all thieves are thieves  certainly,
not all thieves steal for the same reasons. There are five distinct
motivations for becoming a thief, each of which is interrelated to the
characters alignment, the way he behaves in groups, the kinds of
things he is likely to attempt to steal, and (if the Dungeon Master is
so inclined) certain aspects of his special abilities. Most thieves will
have only one dominant motivation, but the following descriptions
are only examples, and combinations are possible. A reference table
has also been provided to illustrate the differences between differ-
ently motivated thieves.
Table I: Types of thieves
Ability
Alignment Associates Specialty Adjustment
Greed
chaotic
few
grab & run none
Professional lawful
guild
burglary + 5% traps
Revenge
neutral
variable
varied no pickpocketing
Artistic
chaotic
hirelings high-risk little magic
Recreational
any

usually varied none
Note: This table is for comparison purposes only. Refer to text for
full descriptions of all motivating factors. Ability adjustments in
particular are purely optional and at DMs discretion; they may be
disallowed or expanded as appropriate. For example, thieves of good
alignment might be denied the use of poison, or avenger-types could
be prohibited from backstabbing.
The greed motivation
Of all the reasons to steal, this is the most obvious and the most
frequently found in AD&D game characters. Thieves of this type
steal almost exclusively for personal profit, though not usually to
support an extravagant lifestyle. Greedy thieves are nearly always
chaotic, usually evil (though many wont admit it), and often a bit
paranoid as well. They tend to work alone whenever possible; even
when traveling or adventuring in a group, they will trust no one
completely. They are hoarders, going to great lengths to conceal the
extent and location of their wealth. They avoid violent confronta-
tions as much as possible, fighting only in dire emergencies while on
dungeon or wilderness expeditions. In such situations, other party
members are only safe from the thief to the extent that he needs
them to get out of the dungeon alive.
In towns, these thieves are solitary operators and make up most of
the pickpocket population  an indication of the methods they
prefer. Greedy thieves will generally avoid planning sophisticated
burglaries  they prefer to grab and run. Their favorite targets are
gems and rings of all kinds, but anything portable and valuable is
worthwhile prey. Magic items may be an exception to this rule,
however, as they are more difficult to sell or learn to use. Greed-
motivated thieves are generally more likely to employ poison than
any other type.

The professional motivation
Professional thieves are, like those driven by greed, among the
most numerous and easily located sorts. These are the second-story
men, the hired burglars, and the career stickup artists. They steal
for the same reason that weavers make rugs and smiths forge armor
its their source of income, the one thing they do well. Profes-
sional thieves are nearly always lawful and generally affiliated with a
local guild, relying on the guild for training, job contacts, and tech-
nical support. Most work alone, though in some cases teams of two
or three will operate together. More experienced professionals will
frequently specialize, stealing only certain kinds of merchandise or
operating exclusively as cat burglars or armed thugs.
A professional thief's goal is to be thorough, efficient, and incon-
spicuous. He will carefully scout a target prior to carrying out a theft
to determine the extent and type of security to be overcome. Busi-
ness arrangements made with a client will be strictly honored so long
as the client acts in good faith, but should a professional be deceived
or betrayed, he will act to protect his interests and will not hesitate
to kill to do so, though guild-affiliated thieves especially frown on
unnecessary violence. Experienced members of a guild will only
rarely accompany a party on a dungeon adventure or the like, unless
they have been hired to overcome a specific obstacle or recover a
particular treasure. If the campaign supports it, a DM may elect to
allow guild-affiliated professionals a 5% better chance at finding and
removing traps as a result of their special opportunity for training in
this area.
The revenge motivation
The avenger or crusader is an unusual and relatively scarce sort of
thief, typified in literature and legend by Robin Hood and the
Count of Monte Cristo. He is distinguished from other thieves in

that he only steals from a particular individual, organization, or
social class, and usually does so in the name of justice. Frequently,
some incident in a characters past in which he has been wronged is
responsible for the decision to assume the role of thief. In game
terms, avenger-type thieves are normally neutral or neutral good in
D RAGON 9
alignment. Their goals are ultimately those of law and order, but
their approach is chaotic in nature.
Avengers are almost never affiliated with guilds, and often con-
duct their thieving careers under cover of a new name or identity.
Many avenger-types are dual- or multi-classed, having changed
careers to vent their wrath. They generally work alone or as the
leader of a very few trusted partners, and their campaigns of ven-
geance often encompass much more than simple thievery. Avenger-
types often possess a very developed sense of honor, and can be
relied on when they give their word, though they are not above
orchestrating elaborate deceptions designed to ruin or humiliate
their chosen enemies. Some DMs may elect to rule that, because of
their highly honorable characters, avenger-type thieves will not
employ the ability to pick pockets.
The artistic motivation
This sort of thief steals neither for the money nor as a professional
contractor  at least, not primarily. Rather, he is continually devis-
ing and testing ways to commit the perfect crime. Though typically
chaotic in alignment, the artistic thief is frequently a member of a
guild, disdaining all but the most difficult and prestigious assign-
ments. At these, however, he will excel. Impossible crimes and
ingenious confidence games and swindles are the artists stock in
trade, and though such a thief will invariably plan and engineer a
project alone, he may have hirelings or trusted assistants to carry out

the actual theft. Above all, they are stylists, and will occasionally
take unnecessary or flamboyant risks in pursuit of their goals.
Artist-thieves are equally likely to accept paid commissions or to
undertake jobs purely for the challenges they represent. Their tar-
gets are invariably of the highest value and rarity. Though an artist-
thief will on rare occasions mastermind a kidnapping, he will usually
avoid violence and murder. There are two reasons for this: first,
artists have exceptionally high overhead (many leave imitation items
in place of the stolen property), and second, many artist-thieves
began as guild members with that organizations desire for obscurity.
Such thieves do have one unusual prejudice they will almost
never employ purely magical methods (such as using a chime of
opening) to achieve their ends, considering the action to be cheat-
ing. They have no objection to protective magic, however, and will
sometimes employ minor magical effects under special conditions. A
few mavericks subscribe to the opposite extreme regarding magic,
and will use it liberally if possible; these thieves are generally multi-
classed or have a wizard as a close companion.
The recreational motivation
Thieves of this persuasion might also be called adventurers,
though not in the same sense as the term is generally used. In many
cases, they are not thieves in the criminal sense at all, but have
merely acquired their special skills either by accident or without
criminal intent. Bilbo Baggins, Tolkiens archetypical burglar, is the
role model for thieves of this motivation. If these characters steal at
all, they do so not for profit or revenge, but rather because it is more
exciting than making keys or repairing trunks. They are a traveling
breed, sometimes reluctantly so but always inevitably, and encom-
pass a wide range of temperaments and alignments. Not all may be
as mild-mannered as this description might imply; some could be

fleeing guildmembers caught with their hands in the cookie jar, or
inveterate pickpockets moving to fresher and safer territory. Still, the
good adventurer-thief will generally do nothing to endanger his
status with the band of wanderers of which he is normally a part. He
will have little or no objection to fair distribution of jointly discov-
ered wealth, though a private windfall gained at serious personal risk
is another matter.
Thieves of a recreational philosophy are rarely specialists; they
will apply their talents to whatever opportunities arise, relying on a
dogged pragmatism rather than sophisticated strategy. They will
fight and kill if need be, though not indiscriminately, and usually
finish anything they begin  rarely indeed does an adventurer-thief
leave a project in the middle. Some will be more active than others;
many, like Bilbo, require a certain amount of persuasion to leave
their homes and families for an adventure in lands and caverns
unknown.
10 DECEMBER 1985
Any one of these motivating factors may be the driving force
behind a player character or NPC thief. Understanding and devel-
oping these diverse kinds of thieves can easily lead to innovative and
unusual adventures for characters (and players) accustomed to the
standard chaotic greedy mold. Players might be drawn into the
intrigue generated by an avenger-type, hired to execute a theft
planned by a high-level artist, or asked to persuade the only thief
capable of dismantling a complex trap to travel halfway across the
continent from his flower garden.
Both players and DMs can make creative use of unusual thief
characters. A routine random encounter with two footpads can turn
into something quite unusual if the two footpads happen to be work-
ing for the Hooded Jackal, the same cruel duke who tossed the party

into the dungeon at an earlier time. Similarly, a player who designs
a clever artist-thief may gather a group of followers around him and
prompt the groups DM to design a series of unique encounters and
adventures appropriate for the character. It is significant to note that
different permutations of the various motivations allow thieves to be
of nearly any possible alignment, good and evil alike, so that charac-
ters can no longer react without thinking to an encounter with a
thief or thieves, assuming that they must be evil, so lets kill them.
They must deal with each encounter, relying on character interac-
tion and role-playing instead of merely reaching for weapons and
combat dice. Further, logically motivated thieves are much more
likely to be productive members of adventuring parties, so that
explorers need no longer sacrifice the valuable skills of the thief class
in order to keep party members from cutting each others throats.
In short, adding logically yet uniquely motivated thieves to a
campaign can serve as a catalyst to spice up a drooping adventure,
provide a new focus for the partys attention, or attract a new player
or two.
Even if a thief simply has an odd personality quirk, the results can
be startling. Case in point: A player in one of my campaigns created
a very chaotic thief character, whose unstable temperament caused
him to change his surface alignment in times of stress. Thus, at one
time he was behaving in a highly evil fashion and tried to backstab a
high-level magic-user, but on another occasion he was most coopera-
tive and lawful in talking his way through a trial. (Needless to say,
this called for very careful role-playing.) Well-rounded thieves are all
too rare in AD&D gaming, but they can make the difference be-
tween an average campaign and an excellent one.
Race is
ahead of

class
Demi-human thieves act according to heritage
by John C. Bunnell
Mention thieves to a band of adventur-
ers, and every eye will suddenly turn to
stare at the halfling in the next-to-last rank
who has been trying very hard to look in-
conspicuous.
Mention thieves to a group of players
rolling up a new party of characters, and
someone is bound to ask, Do we really
need one of those? The last thief we had
stabbed Roger Ramjet in the back and got
away with his + 4 sword. Shortly after-
ward, somebody manages to come up with
statistics good enough to start a monk.
Mention thieves to a DM, and his or her
eyes will roll while a resigned sigh blows
over the referees screen. Thieves are a
pain in the neck, youll be told. In order
to be sneaky and devious, they have to pass
me notes  which lets everybody else know
theyre trying to be sneaky and devious.
And then I have to cope with dozens of little
scraps of paper I can only decipher half the
time anyway!
All those reactions are based on the same
kind of thief  the nasty little halfling who
filches gems at every opportunity and disap-
pears at the slightest drop of a twenty-sided

die. Unfortunately, thats the sort of thief
with which most gamers are best ac-
quainted. Even the occasional human or elf-
born thief is usually of the same
unpredictable stock, and remains difficult
for fellow adventurers to tolerate on a long-
term basis.
Thats a bit surprising, considering the
fact that the thief is the only character class
in the AD&D® game open to members of
any demi-human race, and that almost no
restrictions exist on the number of experi-
ence levels thieves may attain. Still, thiev-
ing behavior patterns remain stubbornly
entrenched; even in Roger Moores excel-
lent series of articles on the races in
DRAGON® issues #58 to #62 (reprinted in
The Best of DRAGON anthology, Vol. 3),
descriptions of demi-human thieves suggest
that they follow their professional instincts
first and their racial instincts second.
Such a characterization not only doesnt
make psychological sense, it unnecessarily
limits the potential diversity and range
available to aspiring players of thieves. In
fact, theres no particular reason that all
thieves have to be marginally trustworthy at
best, or perpetually greedy and selfish at
worst. A thiefs race will almost always have
a profound effect on the way he or she

functions in a game setting, and that effect
wont necessarily make the character a
liability to an adventuring party. A look at
each race illustrates the differences in out-
look that demi-human thieves possess.
Elven eavesdroppers
As Roger Moore observed in DRAGON
issue #60, elves place a lower value than
most other races do on personal property,
largely because of their exceptionally long
lifespans. As a result, elven thieves are
likely to use their special skills to acquire
another commodity of more importance:
knowledge. Elves, with their inherent knack
for ferreting out secret doors and their
generally superior senses, are already keen
observers. Add to this a thiefs ability to
hide and move silently, and the result is a
character uniquely suited to gathering all
kinds of information and discovering all but
the most carefully guarded secrets. (An
elven thief residing in a populated area is at
least 75% likely to be aware of any political
or adventuring activity  including mili-
tary movements  before the normal in-
habitants find out what is going on. This
statistic, of course, applies exclusively to
NPCs and would vary with individual
circumstances.)
Thats not to suggest, however, that elven

thieves are exclusively devoted to uncover-
ing other kinds of knowledge, notably con-
cerning the whereabouts of long-lost magics
and mysterious civilizations. These thieves
do spend part of their time researching
likely prospects, either in musty old libraries
or in and around the homes and guildhalls
of various wizards and sages. They are also
adventurers, though, following up the clues
and persistently journeying into remote
areas in quest of abandoned towers and
cities.
On such expeditions, these elves often
employ magic items and carry away plun-
der that would ordinarily be neglected by
members of other races. In particular, they
are fond of the various information-
detecting wands (some have been known to
wear similar devices in the form of rings),
and they are far more likely to collect old
books, scrolls, and tapestries  magical or
otherwise  from their dungeon visits than
they are to come home with bags of gold
and silver. Though such treasure may seem
bulky and of relatively low value, elven
thieves can sell any book or artwork of
historical interest for 10% to 20% more
than can their colleagues of other races.
Although elf-born thieves value knowl-
edge highly  and are not above making

that fact abundantly clear to characters
seeking it  they are not as a rule especially
secretive. They will always share informa-
tion about their goals and intentions with
adventuring colleagues (though they may
not reveal the full value or power of a
sought-after magical item if they fear a
party member might try to seize or misuse
it), and they are less reticent than most
other thieves about tales of their past ex-
ploits and adventures. Further, while elves
are only rarely members of a thieves guild,
they will generally display the same high
degree of professional reliability that marks
a guild-affiliated thief on an assignment.
The wandering half-elf
The number of half-elves who adopt the
profession of thief is relatively small. While
such characters share the enhanced senses
and interest in information of their demi-
human ancestors, they are unmistakably
human in their taste for intrigue and decep-
tion. As a result, half-elven thieves tend to
avoid elvish communities and kingdoms,
instead traveling extensively and mixing
with human society as much as possible.
The half-elfs abilities set the tone for the
brand of thievery he practices. Half-elven
thieves are masters of the confidence game
and the elaborate swindle, preferring to

make a profit from showmanship and misdi-
rection rather than by brute force or armed
confrontation. For instance, a half-elf arriv-
ing in a middle-sized town might eavesdrop
on a wealthy magician, then turn up on his
doorstep the next day with a map leading to
the hiding place of a valuable item the mage
just happens to be hunting for. Would the
wizard be interested in buying the informa-
tion? What about financing an expedition to
search for the item? Of course, by the time
the spot has been reached, the item is no
longer there  but the thief has long since
collected his fee and vanished.
While their tendency to shade the truth
makes them potentially awkward traveling
companions, half-elves are generally cau-
tious enough to make the problem a minor
one, at least in fairly large parties where the
thief is clearly in the minority. (After all,
half-elven thieves do spend a lot of time on
the road, and it doesnt pay to bite the hand
thats protecting you.) A half-elf's first
priority in such circumstances is his own
personal safety; in a conflict between poten-
tial profit and potential injury, discretion
will almost always prevail. In fact, a half-
elven thief may go to some length to make
himself useful to a group of adventurers if
he expects to need their protection in the

immediate future  though his loyalty will
DRAGON 11
rarely extend to sharing the profits of a
private project. The thief usually wont stay
with the same adventuring party for longer
than it takes to safely reach the third or
fourth town along the road, where he can
begin a new swindle with little fear that his
reputation has preceded him. (He might,
however, rejoin the party the next time it
passes through if escape is necessary by
then.)
Dwarven locksmiths
The majority of dwarves belonging to the
thief character class are not thieves at all,
in the criminal sense of the word. Rather,
they are experts at designing and crafting
the very locks, traps, chests, and vaults that
other thieves are so eager to bypass or rob.
Just as many dwarves are superb and well-
regarded armorers and weapons makers,
the bulk of dwarven thieves are really
locksmiths, cabinetmakers, or architects
who specialize in keeping things safe from
robbery.
poses. The two most frequently encountered
examples of this are the troubleshooter and
the liberator.
A troubleshooter is a special breed of
Although many of the dwarves who pos-

sess thieving skills dont use them to steal
(and frequently dont even adventure,
instead residing in towns or dwarven com-
munities where their skills are eagerly
sought by merchants and nobles), they often
practice their crafts for other related pur-
locksmith/designer who specializes in testing
elaborate locks and traps for clients worried
about the safety of their valuables or the
impregnability of their dungeons. Such a
character may be assigned to try to steal a
piece of jewelry from a locked vault or to
break out of a supposedly escape-proof
prison. If he fails, the troubleshooter has
proven the worth of the protective device; if
he succeeds, he offers advice to his clients
on how to prevent future thieves from re-
peating the feat. Such service is always
costly, but is utterly reliable and generally
worth the investment if a client wants to feel
truly secure.
is less than honorable!
Not many dwarven thieves adopt the
adventuring lifestyle, but those who do are
more often liberators than trouble-
Liberators are rarer, but more closely
allied to the usual concept of the thieving
class. These are thieves especially trained
and outfitted to recover valuables that have
already been stolen  usually from other

dwarves, but sometimes from clients who
pay for the service just as they would for a
troubleshooter. These dwarves (who are
sometimes trained as fighters as well) pick
locks and disarm traps  frequently re-
marking on their inferior construction as
they do so  in single-minded pursuit of
whatever they have been assigned to bring
back. They are fiercely proud of their abili-
ties and their dwarvish heritage, and woe
betide anyone who suggests that a liberator
12 DECEMBER 1985
shooters, and most of these have been cast
out of dwarven society for some act of theft
against another dwarf or a client or ally. It
is not entirely safe to generalize about these
outcasts; although most continue to be
staunch upholders of dwarven superiority
and of the fierce professional honor that is a
dwarfs trademark, they can also be unpre-
dictable and occasionally dangerous. Some
outcasts  perhaps the majority  have
learned from the mistakes for which they
were banished, and have adapted fairly well
to the benign questing of the adventurer. A
few, however, feel so deeply wronged by
their fellow dwarves that they turn to the
darkest side of the thieving profession.
These unstable characters pillage and de-
stroy wherever they go, taking special

vengeance on any other dwarves who may
cross their paths and treading periously
close to the ways of the assassin. But these
dark dwarves are quite rare, and dwar-
ven thieves generally make solid, reliable
adventuring partners who are especially
handy in underground settings.
The fun-loving gnome
Gnomes, more than any other racial
type, take pure pleasure from the act of
stealing. This outlook, however, stems not
from a tendency toward evil but from sheer
gnomish delight in slipping through intri-
cately crafted defenses and collecting a
valuable prize. While other races consider
thievery a profession, gnomes practice it as
a recreational pursuit  with much the
same devotion that DRAGON Magazines
readers are likely to pursue role-playing
games.
As a result, gnomes are much more de-
serving of the title burglar than the half-
lings to whom the description is more often
applied. If a wealthy merchant reports that
a valuable jewelry collection has vanished
from the double-locked false bottom of a
chest hidden in his most secret closet, the
odds are good that the thief responsible was
a gnome. If an adventuring party hasnt
been able to collect a particular treasure

from a nearby dungeon because its too well
defended by an intricate series of traps,
their surest solution is to take the problem
to the nearest gnome settlement  though
it may cost them a fair percentage of the
hoard, any thieves there will be likely to
jump at the opportunity.
Yet while gnomes have developed an
almost legendary reputation for succeeding
at impossible burglaries, they are by no
means infallible. Indeed, their failures are
often as spectacular as their achievements
and the gnomes do not always mind, so
long as they can get a good story out of the
episode. The reason for this is that gnomes
carry out their thieving activities less by
careful planning and organization than by
instinct and impulse. In this way, a gnomes
thieving habits are not unlike those of a
pack rat: if he sees something that looks like
an interesting trinket, he is liable to drop
whatever hes doing at the time to make a
stab at collecting it.
This pack rat mentality also influences
the kinds of objects a gnome will steal and
what he does with them afterward. Gnomes
are, of course, especially attracted to gems
and jewelry (the more valuable, the better);
they are also easily seduced by the lure of
magic items, especially those with some

form of illusion-producing power. They are
not, by contrast, especially interested in
hoards of mere coin or other bulky goods,
since a gnome does not usually sell the
items he steals. Rather, he keeps them to
admire their beauty (in the case of gems
and such) or their magical powers. But as
time passes, gnomes often lose interest in
their less valuable prizes, and have been
known to leave them behind in place of
newly stolen items of greater value  hence
the comparison to the pack rat. This is
especially true of adventuring gnomes, who
are frequently traveling and cannot easily
amass more loot than they can carry.
Characters whose parties include thieves
of gnomish extraction are usually in little
danger of being betrayed or backstabbed. In
fact, while gnomes are normally reluctant to
start a fight, they are quick to leap to a
friends defense. But adventurers who travel
with gnome thieves should be prepared to
make allowances for the gnomes unique
personalities, particularly in two respects.
First, they should not be surprised to occa-
sionally find themselves the butt of the
gnomes practical jokes, which are always
intended purely to amuse (and perhaps to
embarrass) but not to injure. Secondly,
fellow adventurers should be most careful to

avoid short-changing gnome thieves when
the time comes to divide treasure. A gnome
who feels his contributions have been un-
dervalued or who especially craved a partic-
ular bracelet will not be above collecting
his rightful due from a fellow party mem-
ber, though the gnome is likely to leave
sufficient gold in his victims purse to more
or less balance the shares.
The half-orcs priority
Half-orcs of any class dont seem to be
found in great numbers in the average
gaming campaign; half-orc thieves, if any-
thing, are found even less frequently. It may
be just as well, for half-orcs make perhaps
the single deadliest sort of thieves a party is
likely to encounter.
Meetings with half-orc thieves, as a rule,
will not occur in dungeons or other remote
settings where an adventuring group is
hunting for hidden treasure. Instead, they
are likely to take place in the dark alleys of
large cities and towns, or on fairly well-
traveled but under-patrolled roads between
such communities. This is because half-orcs
are almost invariably practitioners of the
art of armed robbery  the easiest, least
subtle form of stealing. Half-orcs typically
lack the patience and subtlety to make good
burglars, are often failures as pickpockets,

and are too self-centered to work well in
groups. That leaves strong-arm tactics as
DRAGON 13
the most reliable means of making a quick
gold piece on which to survive.
The more intelligent half-orc thief will
almost always take up the role of highway-
man, either alone or as the leader of a small
band of significantly weaker bandits. He
knows that as a half-orc, he wont easily fit
into city life, where he will be viewed with
constant suspicion and where patrols of
guards are entirely too frequent. He will lie
in wait for merchants and adventurers,
robbing them by force if practical or by the
dark of night if necessary.
Such highwaymen, however, do not make
up the majority of half-orc thieves, though
they are often the most powerful and
longest-lived of their race. The majority of
half-orcs who adopt the thieving profession
are quickly hired as enforcers and strong-
arm thugs by crime lords and powerful
guildmasters in urban areas, serving much
the same purpose as the hired gunmen and
goons employed by modern-day organized
crime bosses. That purpose, of course, is to
threaten reluctant clients and customers
with violence unless they do as theyre told
and to carry out the threats if necessary.

In one respect, half-orcs would seem
unsuited to the status of hireling; their
typical me first attitudes suggest that
they would make unsafe employees at best.
But the masters of half-orc thugs take great
care to retain the loyalty of their staffs.
These measures include regular (and rea-
sonably good) pay, fairly close supervision,
and active efforts to keep hired enforcers
from using the full range of their thieving
skills. Most significantly, such hirelings are
strongly discouraged from searching for and
removing traps, a practice which decreases
the likelihood that a thug will be able to
make off with his employers carefully se-
cured loot or acquire professional secrets
which could be sold to a rival. If kept on a
short leash, a half-orc thief is almost as
reliable a killer as a genuine assassin.
Very few half-orc thieves remain to join
adventuring parties, and even fewer remain
with such groups for long. A good percent-
age are quickly done in by unlooked-for
traps (and, to a half-orc in a dungeon, most
traps are unlooked-for). Most of the others,
once they have identified the most valuable
treasure carried by party members, will
steal the best items and leave their victims
in no condition to pursue. In short, no
matter what the circumstances may be, an

encounter with a half-orc thief is likely to
leave the thief's opponent worse off than he
was before.
Halflings: another look
Popular reports have characterized half-
ling thieves as sly, avaricious tricksters who
should be trusted only as far as high-level
fighters can throw them. Closer observation
of halfling society, however, reveals that this
portrait is almost entirely without founda-
tion. In fact, such characters may be among
the most reliable adventuring companions
imaginable.
The sheer greed that so many treasure
seekers associate with halflings is the first
casualty of a serious investigation. Though
halflings do value their comfort, especially
in their own homes and villages, they are
not particularly interested in money, gaudy
jewelry, or even magic. Rather, the posses-
sions they value are useful as well as attrac-
tive and durable: furniture, good food, fine
ales and tobaccos, and the like.
While the preceding description applies
chiefly to halflings who stay at home and
lead quiet, peaceful lives, those who take up
the adventuring lifestyle are not very differ-
ent. Almost all halfling adventurers belong
to the thief character class; fighters and
clerics tend to stay at home serving and

protecting their villages. The single person-
ality quirk that distinguishes these travelers
and explorers from other halflings is an
intense, constant curiosity about the world
beyond the hills visible from the parlor
window. Halfling thieves arent satisfied
with mere stories about dragons, two-
thousand-foot waterfalls, or cities built of
rainbow-colored glass; they want to see all
these things for themselves.
A halflings inquisitiveness, however, can
never entirely overwhelm the shy caution
that is the races trademark, nor can it keep
them from complaining periodically about
the danger, discomfort, and uncertainty that
go with an adventuring life. As a result,
halflings often go to some length to avoid
encounters with unknown persons and
creatures, making themselves as inconspicu-
ous as possible until they are sure it is safe
to emerge from their hiding places. And
they are wary of any situation where they
are offered something for nothing; halflings
are shrewd bargainers who know there is
usually a catch to such transactions.
It may be noted that this description of
halfling thieves makes virtually no reference
to stealing or to other skills normally associ-
ated with the thief class. This is not unin-
tentional; rather, it mirrors the almost

complete lack of attention paid by halflings
to such matters. To a halfling, treasure and
other material rewards for adventuring are
basically irrelevant, and in fact, halflings
have been known to refuse enormous re-
wards and turn down chances to collect
magnificent treasures  such things are
frequently too cumbersome to be easily
transported, and often are not likely to be
very useful once they are dragged home.
This is not to say that halflings lack the
skills possessed by other thieves  though
its a mystery where they acquire them,
since very few of the little folk engage in
locksmithing or metalwork, and no halfling
society yet discovered is host to a thieves
guild. The difference is in the use to which
halflings employ these talents to protect and
rescue themselves and their associates when
an adventure somehow gets out of control.
As long as the party is proceeding smoothly
toward its goal or destination, a halfling
thief is likely to spend most of his time
admiring the scenery. Only when trouble
starts will he rush to set things right, dart-,
ing bravely (but never foolishly) into com-
bat, or scurrying to free trapped comrades.
All this is done matter-of-factly and with-
out undue fuss; any praise heaped on a
halflings shoulders afterward will probably

be shrugged off lightly, often with grumbles
that the crisis wasnt his fault. Such grati-
tude is still well deserved. A halfling will
never willingly desert a companion in need,
and may go to truly amazing lengths to
effect a rescue.
Thieves and thieves
It should be clear from the preceding
sketches that the character class labeled
thief is by no means as narrowly special-
ized as the name would suggest. Though
many members of the character class are
thieves in the more conventional sense of
the word, just as many are reasonably law-
abiding folk who would be insulted if their
friends and companions accused them of
being criminals. In particular, demi-human
thieves illustrate this point as a result of the
vastly different worldviews held by each of
the races. To put it simply: There are
thieves, and there are thieves  and then
some. Calling someone a thief in the real
world implies some fairly specific legal and
moral judgments, but saying the same thing
about a character in a game campaign
doesnt carry the same impact. Further
details are necessary before players can
make judgments about thief characters.
Among those details, the thief's race is one
of the most significant.

14 DECEMBER 1985
Was it worth the risk?
A DM’s guide to pickpocketing success
by Bruce
Barber
The picking of pockets is a skill that most
thieves love to exercise, and rightly so.
However, even the most prescient Dungeon
Master cannot always foresee the situations
in which a thief will use this ability, and on
some occasions the DM may not be as
prepared to judge the results of a random
pickpocketing attempt as he would like to
be. The system described in this article is
for use in precisely those circumstances.
The DMs first task is to ascertain what
targets are available for the thief to pick-
pocket. Assuming that the general sur-
roundings have been established, potential
victim density is then determined. This
defines the number of people within a 15
radius of the thief, representing those per-
sons whom the thief would have a reason-
able chance to examine briefly and
approach in one round. Conditions may
indicate a sparse distribution (e.g., a side
street at mid-morning)  d4 persons; dense
(such as a tavern, early evening)  2d4
persons; or crowded (perhaps a marketplace

at noon)
 3d4 persons.
16 DECEMBER 1985
The DM then rolls percentile dice for
each person indicated, referencing the result
on Pickpockets Table I below. A fair (but
veiled) description of each one is then given
to the thief. (If the character insists on a
detailed description, this will require a
longer examination of the potential victim,
incurring a 10% cumulative chance per
round after the initial round of observation
for the NPC to notice this scrutiny and
either move off or confront the thief.)
The PC thief then selects a victim from
among those available and makes the actual
attempt to pick a pocket. At this point, any
modifiers to the base chance for success that
the DM feels are warranted should be ap-
plied. If the pocket is successfully picked,
the DM next rolls percentile dice and refers
to Pickpockets Table II; this accounts for the
fact that any given victim will have several
pockets, and no thief is infallible or lucky
enough to hit on the most profitable pocket
every time.
Depending on the results of the above
roll, the DM then consults either the en-
counter explanations which accompany
Table I, or he is referred to Pickpockets

Table III. If the attempt to pickpocket is
unsuccessful, the thief should, of course, be
prepared to use smooth tongue, feet, or
dagger to deal with the probably unpleasant
repercussions.
Pickpockets Table I: Potential Victims
Except for those marked (1), (2) and (3),
all encounters are with humans; duplicate
results are acceptable, with varying physical
details; there is a 20% chance at night for
any given Potential Victim (PV) to be
drunk (DMs discretion as to degree). Notes
and Encounter Explanations follow the
table, which otherwise conforms to the
descriptions in the DMG on pp. 191-194.
Day
Night Potential Victim Notes
01
01-03 Assassin 1
02 04-05 Barbarian 1
03-12 06-08 Beggar 
13
09-10 Brigand 
14-18 11-13 City guard 
19-21
22-23
24-25
26
27
28-29

30-33
34-38
39-40
41
42-45
46
47-50
51-58
59
60-61
62
63-66
67-69
70
71-72
73
74-78
79-82
83-97
98
99
00
Notes
City official
City watchman
Cleric
Demon
Devil
Doppleganger
Druid

Drunk
Fighter
Gentleman
Ghoul
Goodwife
Harlot
Illusionist
14
15-23
24
25
26
27
28
29-36
37-38
39-40
41
42-43
44-50
51
52
53
54-58
59-60
61
62
63-64
65
66

67
68
69-72
73
74
75-82
83-89
90-92
93
94
95-96
97
98
99
00
Laborer
Magic-user
Mercenary
Merchant
Monk or bard
Night hag
Noble
Paladin
Peddler
Pilgrim
Press gangster
Rake
Rakshasa
Ranger
Ruffian

Thief
Tradesman
Werebear
Wereboar
Wererat
Weretiger
Werewolf
Wight
Vampire


1
2
2
2
1

1

3


1

1


1
2


1




2
1

1

2
2
2
2
2
3
3
(1): These encounters are with a single
character of 6th-11th level (d6 + 5). It is
suggested that the DM have generic
NPC personalities prepared in advance,
suitably equipped with wealth, magic items,
etc. Otherwise, the Character Subtable in
the DMG, pp. 175-176, contains informa-
tion relevant to this sort of random en-
counter. It is further suggested that these
characters be holding only 50-200 gp in
pocket money, or 1-3 items of value (100-
1000 gp each), perhaps from the Jewelry
and Items Typically Bejeweled Table in the

DMG, p. 219. Finally, the DM may wish to
flesh out the pocket contents of these victims
as follows: if the initial roll on Pickpockets
Table II indicates 2 rolls on Table III, sub-
stitute for the second a d10 roll on the fol-
lowing subtable, which reflects a selection of
the distinctive items carried by members of
some character classes. Note that no special
items are indicated for certain types of
characters (such as barbarians and fighters).
If one of these types is indicated as a Poten-
tial Victim, simply ignore this subtable and
make two rolls on Table III as usual.
Table IA: Special items
Victim Die roll Result
Assassin
1
Vial of Type A
ingestive poison
2 Dagger, normal
Barbarian
Cleric
Druid
Fighter
Illusionist
Magic-user
Monk/bard
Paladin
Ranger
Thief

3-5 Garrotting wire
6-10 False moustache
 
1
Silver holy symbol
2-4 Small holy text
5-10 Material spell
component
1
Gold sickle
2-3 Holly/oak leaves
4-5 Mistletoe, lesser
6-10 Mistletoe, greater
 
1-2 Travelling spell
book
3-10 Material spell
component
1-2 Travelling spell
book
3-10 Material spell
component
1-3 Holy symbol
4-10 Prayer book
 
1-3 Thieves tools
4-7 Brass cesti
8-10 Dictionary,
thieves cant
(2): One monster of the sort indicated.

While it is highly unlikely that any of these
creatures would have anything worthwhile
in their pockets (assuming they have any
pockets at all), it is important to note that
all of the creatures designated (excepting
some types of devils and demons) have
some method of appearing in human form
(such as shapechange, illusion, lycanthropy,
etc.) and will be so disguised. A failed
pocket-picking attempt here could well
result in the thief's becoming painfully
aware of his victims true nature! Also,
bear in mind the DMGs strictures on the
rarity and placement of such beings.
(3): There will be only one visible, al-
though others might be lurking nearby. As
these are undead creatures with corporeal,
humanoid bodies, often clothed (albeit in
rags), there is a 25% chance that the thief
will be unaware of just exactly what he or
she is creeping up on until within 5 of it;
the darkness and mist that these creatures
prefer is also a factor in the chance of mis-
taking them for real people. Again, these
should be rare and suitably placed.
Encounter explanations
These explanations deal mainly with the
money carried by the victim. All other
information is as per the DMG pp. 191-
194. Encounters will be with just one indi-

vidual, but any henchmen or companions
indicated by the DMG will be somewhere
within earshot of the victim and will cer-
tainly come running if called for.
Beggar: 2-8 cp
Brigand: 2-8 gp
City Guard: 1-10 sp, plus a set of iron
manacles (can be snapped on successful
attempt to bend bars/lift gates)
City Official: 10-100 gp, plus a damaged
gold ring of office, worth 75 gp
City Watchman: as city guard
Drunk: A wine-sodden bum, 1-20 cp
Gentleman: Fop/fighter, 50-200 gp; Gen-
tlewoman, 1-4 jewels worth 50-200 gp each
Goodwife: 1-4 sp
Harlot: Slovenly trull, 1-10 cp; Expensive
doxy, 10-100 gp; Brazen strumpet, 2-20 cp;
Haughty courtesan, 20-200 gp; Cheap
trollop, 3-30 cp; Aged madam, 30-300 gp;
Typical streetwalker, 1-10 sp; Wealthy
procuress, 40-400 gp; Saucy tart, 2-20 sp;
Sly pimp, 10-60 pp; Wanton wench, 3-30
sp; Rich panderer, 10-100 pp
Laborer: 5-20 cp
Mercenary: 50-200 gp
Merchant: 10% have 10-200 pp, all
others have 50-500 gp
Noble: Nobleman, 10-200 pp; Noblewo-
man, 1-6 items of jewelry worth 200-800 gp

each
Peddler: 10-40 sp
Pilgrim: 3-24 cp
Press gangster: 2-12 sp
Rake: 10-100 gp
Ruffian: 5-20 cp
Tradesman: 5-20 gp (to determine type,
use Secondary Skills Table, DMG p. 12)
Pickpockets Table II: General Content
Dice roll Result
01-30 Empty pocket
31-48 Money (consult descriptions
from Table I)
49-86 One roll on Table III
87-00 Two rolls on Table III
Pickpockets Table III: Odds & Ends
The items on this table are for the most
part of little practical or monetary value,
but there are certain minor surprises and
hazards. Should any of the items seem too
strange, frivolous, or unlikely to your taste,
feel free to replace them with those of your
own design. A standard market value for
items is given where applicable; items with
values marked by an asterisk are black
market merchandise; such items cannot be
purchased through normal, public outlets.
01: Long, straight pin (50% chance of
pricking finger sufficiently to elicit cry of
pain)

02: Platinum piece (counterfeit  actu-
ally lead covered with a thin layer of plati-
num. Shopkeepers and merchant-types have
a 20% chance of recognizing it as ersatz. A
moneychanger will certainly know!); Value
1 sp
03: Ball of string
04: 1-4 dried herrings (edible)
05: Wooden snuff box, 3 pinches of snuff
remaining (induces sneezing for 1 round if
sniffed); Value 3 cp
06: Ornate iron key to a Members
Only club; Value 1-10 gp*
07: Silver-plated neck chain with broken
clasp; Value 4 sp
DRAGON 17
08: Pair of bone dice (30% chance of
being loaded); Value 12 cp
09: 12 oz. clay flask of grain alcohol;
Value 8 sp
10: 1-10 thistleburrs
11: Folded sheet of ragged parchment
with various foodstuffs listed
12: Onion (10% chance it is rotten)
13: 2-12 rusty iron nails (5% chance of
receiving a small nick, in which case there is
a 1% possibility of tetanus infection)
14: 2-8 colored glass spheres, each ¾
inch in diameter; Value 1 cp ea.
15: Deck of ordinary, battered playing

cards (35% chance of being marked)
16: Small book containing the definitions
of common words and phrases in the coun-
trys official language; Value 5 sp
17: Plain wooden comb
18: Cowhide wallet containing identity
papers appropriate to the encounter; Value
2-20 gp*
19: Clod of dirt
20: Small speckled frog, live
21: Mousetrap (set; 75% chance of
springing on contact; no damage, but pain-
ful enough to provoke a loud Ouch!);
Value 10 cp
22: Glass inkpot (loose cork will dislodge
on contact, spattering the thief's fingers
with indelible black ink)
23: Promissory note to the local money-
changer: Pay the Bearer on demand the
sum of 50 gp, signed by a wealthy local
figure (5% chance per turn, cumulative, of
18 DECEMBER 1985
the victim discovering the theft and alerting
the money-changer and/or the city watch);
Value variable
24: Cloth bag containing about ½ oz. of
exotic crushed herbs, along with a wooden
pipe; Value variable
25: Sewing-thimble of silver with em-
bossed family-crest pattern (a thatuth

thymbol?); Value 1 sp
26: 4-inch-long wooden wind instrument
that produces raspberry-like sound when
blown; Value 15 cp
27: A 2-by-3-inch portrait of a woman or
man comely enough to cause the viewer to
react as if in the presence of a person with
18 charisma; Value 4 gp
28: Fleas (1 turn after contact, the thief
will experience uncontrollable itching until
he or she bathes)
29: An embarrassingly explicit love letter
to a well-known woman of easy virtue from
a prominent (and married!) local politician
30: 8-inch-diameter coil of fine copper
wire; Value 14 sp
31: Ring of Visibility (A simple copper
band with a non-magical rune engraved on
it; when worn the wearer will be plainly
visible to anyone within sight, exactly as
before donning the ring!); Value 6 cp
32: Sixteen 3-by-5-inch cards of stiff
parchment, numbered consecutively, writ-
ten in an unfamiliar language which trans-
lates as notes on The Fascinating
Permutations of Economics in an Agrarian
Society
33: An egg (40% chance of breaking
when grasped)
34: A bent copper piece; Value 1 cp

35: A large hole, directly underneath
which is the victims skin (50% chance of
the victim feeling the touch of the thief's
hand)
36: Cold beef sandwich on thick black
bread, wrapped in dirty cloth (hot mustard
optional)
37: Vial of vile perfume; Value 2 cp
38: Silk handkerchief (with the DMs
monogram); Value 5 cp
39: Leather bag containing a 25mm lead
figurine of the victim, dressed outlandishly
(describe modern S-piece suit) and 6 oddly
shaped bone dice; Value 15 cp
40: Two engraved invitations (generic) to
a Ball at the Palace/Manor House/Castle
etc., the following week; formal dress (75%
chance that the former owner will simply
assume them lost)
41: A dead bug (of whatever sort the
player hates most)
42: 2-8 interesting but completely value-
less stones
43: Tattered map (DMs determination of
contents, i.e., city, ocean, etc.; it should be
missing information or be partially inaccu-
rate); Value variable
44: Silver ring with partially legible elvish
script on the inner surface: . . . to bring
them all, and in the . . . (cheap facsimile,

silver-plated lead); Value 1 sp
45: One-quarter pound of cheese (DMs
option as to type and condition)
46: Quill pen, broken nib
47: Feather of Lightness (when tossed
into the air, this pigeon-feather will float
lazily to the ground)
48: Vial of mild poison, sufficient to
induce vomiting for 1-4 rounds; Value 1 gp
49: White mouse, live (trained and
friendly); Value 1 sp
50: Pouch of 20 wooden 5 cp coins
51: Lump of coal
52: Tinderbox; Value 1 gp
53: Small lodestone attached to leather
thong, with a runic N chiseled into one
end (indicates magnetic north); Value 1 gp
54: 12 oz. flask of very cheap wine, la-
beled Old Wyvern Breath. It has a heavy,
overpowering bouquet that can knock a
buzzard off a dung-wagon; Value 1 cp
55: Set of 2-8 iron keys (DMs choice as
to where the keys may be used, if any-
where); Value variable
56: Small, black leather book containing
5-20 names and addresses (DMs discretion
as to contents)
57: Orange peels
58: 1-4 cheap cigars, with a pungent
aroma reminiscent of a stable; Value

2 cp/doz.
59: One-quarter pound sack of oats
60: Wooden wrist sundial, broken strap;
Value 15 sp
61: Small slip of parchment indicating
that (fill in name) owes the city 10 cp for
leaving his horse in a proscribed area, one
week overdue; Value  10 cp
62: Stiff parchment card containing the
name and address of the towns best tavern
and a message indicating that the card is
good for one on the house; Value 1 sp
63: One-inch cube constructed of smaller
interlocking moveable colored cubes (any-
one who shifts the positions of the smaller
cubes must save vs. spell at + 3 or be con-
fused for 1-4 rounds); Value 1 sp
64: 1-inch-diameter ball of hard, red
rubber; Value 15 cp
65: A notice on crumbled parchment,
dated that day, to the effect that the bearer
is not to be found in taverns, inns, brothels
or in the company of known criminals, for a
period of 1-6 months; signed by the Captain
of the City Watch
66: Wooden vial of spice (cinammon,
oregano, nutmeg, etc.); Value 1 sp
67: Wad of gum arabic, sticky and lint-
covered
68: Bag of beans (usually ordinary, but a

5% chance that it is the magic item of the
same name)
69: 1-4 potatoes
70: Pair of cloth mens gloves, knitted so
as to leave the thumb and fingers exposed;
Value 1 sp
71: Small knife (3-inch blade, bone han-
dle, 1 hp damage) and a half-whittled chunk
of wood; Value (of knife) 5 sp
72: Wooden case containing vials of red,
black, and white grease paint and a thin
stick of dark graphite; Value 1 sp
73: 3 darts (damage 1-3/1 -2) in a leather
case; Value 1 gp
74: Wedge of cold cheese and onion pie
wrapped in greased brown parchment
75: Sand
76: 3-inch-diameter wooden brooch with
Vote (DM fills in name) for Grand Vizier
burnt into the outer face
77: Blackjack
78: 6-inch-long green snake, live (but
harmless)
79: Gold necklace inset with rubies and
emeralds (gold plate, paste gems  easily
recognizable as costume jewelry); Value
1 gp
80: 4-16 brass tacks (25% chance of
provoking cry of pain when grabbed); Value
1 cp

81: Mummified monkeys paw on leather
thong (2% chance of enchantment enabling
the paw to grant one limited wish)
82: Small silver holy symbol of a lawful
good religion, fastened on a broken chain;
Value 10 gp
83: Half-eaten head of cabbage
84: Deck of brand-new, non-magical
playing cards decorated with the same
images found on a deck of many things
85: Silver arrowhead (50% chance of
grasping point for 1 hp damage and loud
ouch); Value 1 sp
86: Vial of camphor-menthol unguent
(will ease headache and clear clogged nasal
passages); Value 2 sp
87: Crude bearclaw and rawhide necklace
88: Book containing religious hymns,
psalms, etc., with the inscription Gidyon
on the flyleaf (alignment of religion is DMs
choice)
89: Peddlers license; grants the licensee
permission to sell wine in the marketplace
90: Set of wooden teeth, two or three of
which are cracked
91: Parchment signed by the Chief of the
City Watch, giving the designated bearer
safe passage anywhere in the city or there-
from (bearers signature may altered by a
scribe for 5 gp); Value 10 gp*

92: Heel from ladys shoe
93: Personal diary (contents determined
by encounter; owner may or may not desire
its return); Value variable
94: Jar of adhesive paste of sufficient
strength to bind parchment or small bits of
wood; Value 1 sp
95: 2-8 nuggets of iron pyrites (fools
gold)
96: Small pouch containing three nut-
shells and a pea
97: 2-12 wooden arrows, each 3 inches
long, for stirring drinks
98: Rolled-up pair of used black silk
stockings; Value 6 sp
99: A 3-by-5-inch card of stiff parchment
identifying the bearer as having a highly
contagious skin disease (which may or may
not be true)
00: Magic item: the relatively low-power
items on the following subtable are culled
from those in the DMG which are usable by
any class, and pocket-size. For the purposes
of this system it may be assumed that in
many cases the bearer is unaware of the
items magical qualities (i.e., it may have
been stolen, found, etc.). If any item comes
up which seems totally inappropriate, roll
until a suitable result is obtained.
1: Dagger + 1

2: Eversmoking bottle
3: Flask of curses
4: Iron flask
5: Keogthoms ointment
6: Medallion of thought projection
7: Necklace of strangulation
8: Periapt of health
9: Periapt of wound closure
10: Philtre of love
11: Potion of healing
12: Potion of speed
13: Potion of sweet water
14: Quaals feather token, 1 only
15: Ring of contrariness
16: Ring of free action
17: Ring of swimming
18: Ring of warmth
19: Ring of weakness
20: Scarab of insanity
Note that those characters designated by
note (1) on Table I are not eligible for any
of these items, as it is assumed that the DM
has already made provisions for any such
items they might be carrying.
DRAGON 19
Oriental opens new vistas
What the latest
AD&D®
game book has to offer
by David Cook

The Oriental Adventures book began, as
an idea, many years ago. It was an idea
worth pursuing  but, like all good ideas
(it seems), it had to wait for a while. There
were other projects that had to be done,
schedules to be kept, and a general lack of
time. Finally, in the spring of 1985, every-
thing coincided and the work began. By
early autumn, the design and production
were finished, and the book should be avail-
able by now in your neighborhood book-
store or game/hobby outlet.
So, what is the Oriental Adventures
book? Well, dont take the title too literally
this book is not a great big module or
series of adventures set in oriental lands. It
contains new player-character races and
classes, new rules for clans, revised and
expanded rules for proficiencies, new rules
for honor, new monsters, new treasures,
and new weapons and equipment. The
book is an AD&D game expansion that
gives characters brand-new and different
lands in which to adventure. It is meant to
be for the Orient what the original AD&D
rule books are for the Western world.
In keeping with this purpose, Oriental
Adventures draws its inspiration from all
the lands of the Far East, not just one single
country or nation. Included within this

book are elements of the Japanese, Chinese,
Korean, Philippine, Malaysian, Indo-
Chinese, Mongolian, Ainu, and Siberian
cultures. The historical periods covered
range from ancient to medieval. Dungeon
Masters will be able to recreate any number
of fantasy settings with the rules and infor-
mation provided.
There are two principal ways you can use
the Oriental Adventures expansion. Both
are perfectly fine ways to use the book (and
so are any other uses for the material that
you may find). The first and most obvious
way is to use the material for an oriental
campaign. Such a campaign would be set
exclusively in the oriental world. Player-
character classes and races from other books
would not be allowed.
However, many of you already have
campaigns well under way. Publication of
the Oriental Adventures rules hardly means
you have to scrap your current world. A lot
of the book is information that you can
integrate into your current campaign 
you can introduce the new character classes,
new races, new spells, and so forth into the
world youve already designed.
The emphasis in the Oriental Adventures
rulebook is on new material, and most of it
is designed to be used by players (and their

20 DECEMBER 1985
characters). Player characters can be hu-
man, or can belong to one of three new
character races  korobokuru, an offshoot
branch of the dwarvish race; hengeyokai,
mischievous and intelligent shapechanging
badgers, cranes, rabbits, foxes, dogs, and
other animals; or spirit folk, the refined and
graceful offspring of the marriages of hu-
mans and the natural spirits of the fantasy
world.
Each of the new non-human races has its
particular strengths and limitations. The
korobokuru are hardy and stout fellows like
their dwarvish cousins, but in the highly
civilized and cultured lands of the orient
they are considered somewhat backward
and primitive. The hengeyokai are able to
assume three forms at will  their animal
shape, a combination of human and animal,
and a human form. But they are loners,
occupying a niche outside the highly struc-
tured human society. The spirit folk gain
powers from their supernatural heritage,
powers that can both aid and hinder them.
The selection of new character classes is
broad, reflecting the diversity of the oriental
world. The samurai represents the aristoc-
racy, the noble warrior and leader of the
people. He has potent fighting abilities and

a natural tendency to rule. He lives by a
fierce code of honor (bushido) that stresses
his reputation and his warrior ideals. The
shukenja is a wandering priest, a cleric
devoted to helping and aiding others. Forti-
fied by spells, both old and new, he is a
weak fighter, oriented more toward aid and
investigation. The sohei is at the other
extreme of the same spectrum  a warrior-
priest who is skilled in the fighting arts but
less adept at the magical and mystical.
An offshoot of the thief class is the ninja
the popular figure of so many books and
movies. The ninja possesses many of the
abilities of the thief, acrobat, and assassin
classes. The ninja does not exist as a sepa-
rate class, but is a specialty that must be
combined with another character class,
allowing for characters with formidable
combinations of fighting or spell-casting
plus ninja abilities. In this same grouping is
the yakuza, a shadowy figure of the under-
world. Sometimes a protector of the com-
mon people, the yakuza has many resources
at his disposal, including information-
gathering and thieving skills.
Of the fighter types, the bushi is the most
common. He is a warrior of no mean skill,
but one who often suffers the hardships of
poverty and low rank. He has the opportu-

nity to rise to important posts, competing
for recognition with the samurai. Deadliest
of all warriors is the kensai, a master in the
use of a single weapon. His life is dedicated
to perfection of his art, man and weapon
becoming one. Although vulnerable at low
levels, he is a powerful and efficient fighter
at higher levels.
The counterpart to the magic-user is the
wu jen, the mysterious spell caster of the
east. He has slightly more combat ability
than the magic-user and a spell list that
combines magic-user, illusionist, and more
than 50 new wu jen spells. Through patient
study, he can become a master of one of the
elements, thereby gaining extra power from
his spells.
In addition to these new character classes
are a couple of familiar names, the barbar-
ian and the monk. Each has been adapted
to take into account the new rules associated
with the oriental world.
But the mere descriptions of the character
classes do not create the complete oriental
character. Of near equal importance to the
setting are their skills in the arts and their
family background. Thus, new rules have
been provided to give the characters skills
and abilities such as weapon-smith, calligra-
phy, poetry, falconry, herbalist, ettiquette,

and swimming. These skills, an expansion
of the proficiency rules already found in the
AD&D game system, help create the knowl-
edge of the character.
Still, the oriental character would be
incomplete without a family clan and his-
tory. Each player determines his characters
birth rank, designs a family (according to
simple rules), learns the familys history and
background, and determines the characters
birthrights. Thus, a samurai character may
be the grandson of the head of his clan, who
owns a small castle and several parcels of
land. Before adventuring, the character is
given a sword of quality and several horses
as his birthright. Another character may
have had a famous general in his ancestry,
but his family has fallen on hard times
since. The family background can become
important in play, affecting the reactions of
NPCs to the character on the basis of his
family.
Of course, a brand-new setting leads to
brand-new equipment and weapons. Unlike
many other possible historical settings, the
oriental world offers a wide range of new
and exotic equipment. Weapons range from
the commonplace to the bizarre  from
swords, spears, bows, and crossbows to chu-
ko-nu, jitte, kau sin ke, kiseru, kusari-

gama, metsubishi, sode garami, and
uchi-ne. Those of an unusual nature are
described and illustrated for easy reference.
Likewise, armor ranges from common suits
of leather, chain mail, and banded mail to
specific pieces such as do-maru, hara-ate-
gawa, and sune-ate. New rules are provided
for wearing pieces, not complete suits, of
armor, a common enough situation in many
oriental lands. The rules allow characters to
wear any combination of pieces  kote
(armored sleeves) with sune-ate (shin
guards) or do-maru (breastplate), haidate
(thigh guards), and sode (shoulder guards),
etc. Players accustomed to the armors used
in the AD&D game system will be in for a
surprise  there is no type of plate armor
commonly available in oriental lands.
Exotic weapons are one thing associated
with the orient. Another area linked to that
of the orient is martial arts  the exotic
styles of combat with and without weapons.
Here, the original rules for martial arts
have undergone a great deal of expansion to
allow the DM and players to create different
styles of martial arts. Each style generates
its own armor class, number of attacks,
damage, main method of attacking, and
special maneuvers. The last of these, special
maneuvers, are extraordinary feats that can

be attempted by the characters  flamboy-
ant kicks, powerful punches, throws, locks,
parries, and mental feats. Learning these
maneuvers requires dedication and patience
on the part of the player character, as well
as the sacrificing of other proficiencies he
could learn instead. In addition, the martial
arts fighter can learn to use a number of
specialized weapons, adding these to his
repetoire of fighting skills.
Of course, no adventure is complete
without adversaries. Therefore, new mon-
sters peculiar to the oriental milieu are
provided. New dragons and other creatures
make their first appearance  the ikiryo,
kuei, jishin mushi, jiki-ketsu-gaki, tengu,
and shirokinukatsukami (winner of the
longest monster name yet), to name a few.
They range from implacable foes to benevo-
lent protectors of mankind. A new class of
creature type is introduced here, too  the
lesser and greater spirits. These creatures
(of which there are many) are those things
of the half-world, the boundary between
the mortal and celestial realms. Normally
found throughout the oriental world, these
creatures possess supernatural powers, often
quite formidable in scope. Fortunately for
the characters, the shukenja and wu jen are
provided with spells to deal with these spirit

creatures. Indeed, dealing with spirits is the
shukenjas equivalent of the clerics turning
undead.
Along with new monsters come new
treasures. The stories of the orient are filled
with unusual and powerful magic items.
Furthermore, the vast number of new weap-
ons need to be included in the lists of possi-
ble magical weapons. The new treasures
listed include miscellaneous magic items
representative of those found in the orient
and a system for creating magical weapons.
No longer are swords the only intelligent
weapons  many different weapons have
the chance for special powers and intelli-
gence. Not only are there magic swords,
there are magic halberds, daggers, katana,
kama, naginata, and more. There are
magic bows, arrows, crossbows, spears,
darts, sling stones, uchi-ne, shurikens, and
other missile weapons. There are magic
martial arts weapons and magic ninja weap-
ons. The DM can create any number of
magic weapons with a variety of powers.
The Oriental Adventures rules can be
used within an already existing campaign or
to play in an entirely oriental world. For the
latter option, new encounter tables have
been provided. However, there are more
than just encounter tables. Given here is a

system for creating yearly and monthly
events. These events can be natural disas-
ters (fires, earthquakes, floods, and
plagues), social events (contests, rebellions,
wars, births, assassinations, and bandits) or
even supernatural occurrences (hauntings
and visitations). By creating a years worth
of events, the DM forms a backdrop for the
play of his campaign  a living world his
characters can adventure in. The event
system breathes life and energy into a cam-
paign world.
Finally, there are sections giving an over-
view of the life and culture of a mythical
oriental continent  Kara-Tur. This conti-
nent can be used as a starting place for
creating your own adventures and will also
be the setting for future Oriental Adven-
tures modules published by TSR. Described
is the general climate, geography, and prin-
cipal empires of the land. In addition, there
are also sections dealing with aspects of the
daily life in the orient  types of food,
dress, buildings, and so forth. Finally, to get
you started are a series of suggested adven-
tures, highlighting the different style of play
in the oriental world.
Playing in an oriental setting is different,
and this difference creates excitement and
enjoyment. The standard dungeon crawl

is an uncommon event here. Instead char-
acters, even low-level ones, will find them-
selves undertaking more wilderness
journeys and adventures. More emphasis is
placed on dealing with NPCs, too. The
oriental lands are highly civilized and cul-
tured places, more so than the lands of the
west at the same time. Players will find their
characters more often dealing with nobles,
lords, and officials  engaging in politics
and government, helping to shape the des-
tiny of provinces.
The Oriental Adventures book has some-
thing for every DM and player, not just
those fascinated by the inscrutable East.
Within its pages is material that can be
applied and adapted to any campaign. DMs
and players are encouraged to experiment,
mixing the strange powers and wonders of
the orient with their own campaigns. Such
experimentation is creative, imaginative,
and, most of all, fun. And fun is what the
AD&D game system is all about.
DRAGON 21
Three challenges in one
New module mixes wargaming and role-playing
by Michael Dobson
New rules for the D&D® game make new
things possible. One of the great things
about the BATTLESYSTEM Fantasy

Combat Supplement is that it changes some
ideas about how the D&D game can be
played. A new D&D Expert Set campaign
module, designated X10 and titled Red
Arrow, Black Shield, explores one of these
new ideas: how to build a world at war.
Im especially fond of this adventure, not
just because its the first module Ive writ-
ten by myself, but also because it does
something that has never been done before
in the D&D game system  it is a combina-
tion of strategic wargame, tactical wargame,
and role-playing adventure. You can adapt
the techniques in this module to your own
campaign world, and I think youll have a
much more lively campaign if you do.
In X10, the Master of the Desert No-
mads (last seen in the X4/X5 Desert No-
mads saga) returns to menace the civilized
lands of the D&D Expert Set game world.
But this time, instead of being scouts for the
defending army, the PCs become diplomats
and generals directly involved in fighting
the war. This wasnt possible before the
publication of the BATTLESYSTEM Sup-
plement (which works for the D&D game as
well as for the AD&D® game) and the War
Machine from the D&D Companion Rules
Set. The BATTLESYSTEM rules handle
the tactical battles, and the War Machine

(specially modified with rules for counter
movement on a hex grid for this adventure)
handles the strategic war. These new rules
create a new excitement in managing a
large campaign. (The adventure also con-
tains a lot of new information about the
nations of the D&D Expert world.)
While the PCs are engaged on the role-
playing or tactical level, the strategic game
keeps track of the whole war, week by week.
Like a novel that changes point of view
from the individual to the omniscient, the
adventure constantly flows from one level of
play to another.
This ability to change scale dynamically
opens up important new horizons in role-
playing. In the past, it has been nearly
impossible to get individual adventurers
involved in the great sweep of the geopoliti-
cal campaign. Traditional role-playing rules
focus on the individual, but in the strategic
scale the individual tends to fade out and
vanish into the common herd of humanity.
PCs in a normal role-playing campaign do
not have the perspective that allows them to
see strategic movement. It is a case of not
being able to see the forest for the trees.
22 DECEMBER 1985
This three-level technique (role-playing,
BATTLESYSTEM, and War Machine)

allows you to design a campaign world
much as you would design NPCs or mon-
sters, and to run each country as a game
entity while still keeping an individual-scale
role-playing campaign running smoothly. To
do this, you must (1) lay out the campaign
world, (2) identify the various nations, (3)
create national identities, (4) define the
relationships among the nations, and (5)
design the armies.
To put this system into practice, you need
the following items: the D&D Companion
Set, the BATTLESYSTEM Supplement,
and (ahem) module X10 for the War Ma-
chine variant rules. You also need a few
hundred blank half-inch wargame counters
and large mapsheets with a 16 mm hex
grid. (The back sides of the counters and
the large map in X10 are left blank for just
this purpose.)
First, you have to map out the basic
campaign world. (In X10, I didnt have to
do this, because I already had the D&D
campaign world from the Expert Set to
draw upon. This illustrates the importance
of creative borrowing in game design.)
Dont get too ambitious at first; you can
always add more continents as you need
them. Figure out the basic continental
outline and geography, place major moun-

tains, rivers, and other features on the map,
and decide on national borders. To make
the job easier, do some research first. Study
how the WORLD OF GREYHAWK
Fantasy Game Setting and the D&D cam-
paign world are put together. Various arti-
cles that have appeared in DRAGON®
Magazine (recently in issues #87, 90, 93,
97, and 98, for example) contain useful
ideas for world construction. Above all,
consult your local library for books on the
medieval world, geography, cartography,
etc. Prepare a large map of your world
using a scale of 24 miles to a 1-inch hex.
Next, design each of the nations in your
world. Make up a name for each country,
and decide what form of government it has.
Create the rulers and any really important
citizens as NPCs. (You can add additional
important personages as your campaign
develops.) Decide on some basic informa-
tion, such as population, racial composition
(humans, demi-humans, etc.), wealth, and
degree of civilization. Place the capital and
other major towns and cities on the map.
Draw in some roads, and decide where the
major trade routes are located. Finally,
write a short sentence or paragraph to de-
line each nations national purpose, such as,
The Empire of Nefaria wants world domi-

nation, and will provoke war with any
neighbor weaker than it is, or The Re-
public of Fealty is interested in expanding
trade, and will do anything it must to avoid
war. Decide how each nation feels about
each of its neighbors. Use the Dominion
rules in the Companion Set to determine
resources, income, expenses, and Confi-
dence Level. As the campaign world evolves
during play, make Confidence Checks and
determine Dominion Events as required.
The last step is to design armies for each
nation. The strength of the standing army
should depend on population, wealth, and
national objectives. Decide on makeup of
the forces and how many divisions make up
the army. Also, design reserve forces for
each nation. These are additional divisions
that could be activated in case of war, usu-
ally by drafting the peasants. Reserve units
are normally ill-trained, poorly equipped,
and have low morale. For each unit, use the
War Machine rules to calculate a Battle
Rating (BR). On the half-inch counters,
write the name of the country, the unit
name (14th Division, XXI Legion, etc.),
the basic BR, and the movement rate
(MV). On a scale of 1 hex = 24 miles. 1
turn = 1 week, I arbitrarily assigned each
infantry unit an MV of 4 and each cavalry

unit an MV of 6. Individuals or small
groups on horseback have an MV of 10.
Now you have a complete campaign
world ready for play  and in record time!
As you run adventures in your campaign
world, you can easily keep track of whats
going on in the strategic game by moving
army counters and calculating Dominion
Events using the War Machine and Domin-
ion rules from the Companion set.
When war breaks out, as it inevitably
will, the effects on the PCs are major. What
if the dungeon they are about to explore is
located in a war zone? What if the PCs are
press-ganged into the army? What if the
PCs respond to an advertisement for merce-
naries? When the PCs get involved in the
action, pull out your BATTLESYSTEM
supplement and have at it. Characters earn
experience points for leadership and battle-
field heroics, and its a natural way for PCs
to grow in reputation, and eventually to
become great generals, great lords, or even
rulers of their own kingdoms.
Module X10 is the place to start, but you
can build and develop a D&D game world
of your own  packed with excitement,
life, and involvement for your characters.